Half-Life 2 on Oculus Rift has real hand use for firing and reloading weapons

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I think anyone who watched the Oculus Rift with STEMs lightsaber demo the other day is already convinced they need virtual reality in their gaming lives. But now there’s a second demo to bring it home just how much potential Oculus Rift has if coupled with the right peripherals.

The video below shows YouTube gamer Goldfish playing Half-Life 2 with the VR mod, an Oculus Rift, and the Razer Hydra motion controller. It changes the experience drastically, and what looks to be for the better. Your hands are visible in the game, they can hold weapons, you can throw grenades, aim your torch, and weapon reloading is switched to manual gestures.

Ever wanted to shoot someone behind you without spinning around? Now you can.

Revolver reloading is fantastic. Running out of bullets in a fire fight and having to carry out that reload procedure will be extremely tense and highly prone to mistakes, but it’s worth it for the extra realism it brings to the situation. The same is true of actually having to aim your gun and use the real sight for pinpoint accuracy. No more cross hairs!

Unless you are lucky enough to have an Oculus Rift dev kit, Half-Life 2 VR is currently out of reach. However, I’m hopeful this is just the start of the games that are going to get support for Oculus Rift, and eventually maybe even official support. Developers are surely going to see the value in offering an older title with virtual reality support added for a few dollars, and gamers will be more than willing to pay if this video is anything to go by.